Holy Trinity and
The Internet – Good and Bad
Message from Father John –
September 2002
These
days the words ‘seen it on the Net’, ‘bought it on the Net’ are becoming more
common place than ever. The younger ones
amongst us cannot imagine a world before ‘the Net’ existed, just as it may be
difficult to remember when there was no TV, no radio, etc. The Internet and computers generally are a
part of our lives and are here to stay.
Like all media, the Net contains good and bad. It is up to us to help our children sort out
the wheat from the chaff.
There is
a huge variety of sites we can visit.
Many of them can be extremely helpful to us in our spiritual
journey. It is said that retired people
number among the fastest growing market for computers and the Internet, so it’s
never too late to learn! We can use the
Internet to help us in our prayer life, strange though it may sound. Daily meditations, daily scripture readings
and the like can be found at http://www.catholicexchange.com
or at http://www.biblealive.co.uk. General information and links to schools and
parishes can be found via www.rcdow.org.uk
- the site for the Westminster Diocese.
Our own
parish website can be found at http://www.rc.net/westminster/baldock/
Which
sites can we encourage our youngsters to access? Visit http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/1588/
for a Christian Children’s Page. The
Redemptorist website at http://www.shineonline.net
has links to a Kidzone with games and quizzes.
Listen to Christian music and read features and news on http://www.premier.org.uk or at http://www.ucb.co.uk. We haven’t had a lot of time to research good
sites for our children from a Christian perspective so here’s the challenge -
do a spot of surfing yourselves and, if you come up with any good sites, please
let Fr John know!
All this
having been said, there is a leaflet which is produced by the Catholic Agency
for Social Concern, which I would like each family to take as they leave
church, giving some sensible guidelines for parents regarding the dangers
which, sadly, can also lurk in our computer screens. The ‘Safe Surfing’ sheet should be given to
your children. There have been a number of high profile examples recently of
children getting into difficulties, sometimes extremely serious difficulties,
as a result of the misuse of computers or mobile telephones. The leaflet sets out 10 rules for caring
parents to follow, and lists some warning signs for parents to look out for,
which could alert them to any troubles or dangers to which their children may
be prey. They are simple rules which
could help you enormously in helping your children to use the Internet as a
means of learning and growing, and safeguard them from the dangers. Do please take a leaflet, which is also
available from http://www.cesew.org.uk.
I wish
you many hours of pleasurable but safe surfing with the whole family!!